Disney Dominates the Box Office

December 11th, 2016

Disney had a rough start this year with January’s box office flop The Finest Hours, but quickly picked it back up with Zootopia, The Jungle Book, and Captain America: Civil War. The Mouse House made $1 billion by May, setting the record for the fastest studio to cross the $1 billion mark. After that, Disney released Alice Through the Looking Glass, Finding Dory, The BFG, Pete’s Dragon, Queen of Katwe, Doctor Strange, and now Moana, with Rogue One still coming down the pipe. It was the massively lovable Doctor Strange, which raked in $85 million opening weekend that broke Disney’s own record (set in 2015), and with Moana that the studio broke the $6.8 billion record set by Universal Studios last year.

It is not uncommon for box office records to be set every year or every second year, mostly due to inflation and the increase in ticket prices, but these are still impressive numbers. Taking into account the internet-breaking ticket sales of Rogue One, as well as the massive success of last years’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it seems safe to say that the Star Wars Story will be a smash hit, further padding Disney’s already impressive annual box office total.

These numbers are mostly encouraging to those of us who love movies, because they disprove the increasingly popular belief that movies are a dying breed. Many think that with younger generations turning more and more to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, movie theatres should expect a significant drop in attendance. While this may be at least partially true, Disney’s box office success this year shows that people are still ready and willing to support a movie with their wallets, contributing to the industry and ensuring that more excellent movies get made every year.

Also, with the arguable exception of Alice Through The Looking Glass, all these films hold their own, and some are even great, so go check them out.